The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-07-06
f,ro;ston. Ala. Hot BlaSt.)

-tS ttlc tls.N sISpASS->--~| q N-
yearly record Of Lincolns DEATH l nn'
myseif dwelling upon It with more th$I
usual sadness, because / happen to be
amid the surroundings that Framed Il
the startling report when it reachec ne
It is strange that this free government
of ours, tr. crime, which OF ell others Is
the outgrowth of despotism, should IND
development. Do extremes meet II this
way, or may we take this strange ap'
pearance Of assassination as symptom
of deep seated disease that escapes OF.
dinsry seeing? Are we, after al, lated
above the Ills OF tyranny IN our form OF
government, or have We only SHIFTED the
evils of oppression by one, or q few, to
that of the many? Is not the Gespcslsn?
of majority as intolerabie as tha5 OF
one man or OF class? Our government
has developed into one Of parties, ana,
while our constitution was framed 10
protect the minority, the unwrltten con
stitution Of experience running through
a century, really proclains the tact that
a minority has no rights which the party
in power is bound to respect.
It is g little singular, however, tnat
our two instances OF assasslnatlon, Wh!cA
startled the civilized world, were outside
the ordinary run OF politics. Booth
struck for the South, then in armed re-
volt, and Guiteau killed the President
his party had elected. But these cTaW
no line and only illustrate the facs that
heated partisanship, uttered N worGS, is
sure to ind active expression from the
insane. Booths bullet had back OF 1t
JEFF Davis's ptterances, while Gulteau $
pistol, fred at Washington, WAS loaded
at Utica.
OF course JEFF Davis, nor Roscoe
Conkling, ever dreamed Of such iEteots:
and were undoubtedly shocked and
panied at the results. The fact remains,
however, and should be lesson to the
leaders to teach them to be more Sl'"io-
ed in their utterances. The wild ex-
agserations as to the vital importance OF
each political campaign, which We hear
from the stump and read II the press,
are dangerous, for while the masses take
them st their true value, cranks are
stirred into devilish activity.
We must remember, too, that for Two
thousand years, poets, orators and pa,
triots have been singing the praises OF
the assassins-of all popular saints
Brutus and Charlotte Corday have been
and are the most gloriied. The truth IS
that neither was animated by any lofty
impulse or patriotic motive, the fact be-
ing that one was q low sort OF a woman
and the other mean man. Booth and
Guiteau were quite as good as the classic
oair. Next to setting up sham IS a
popular idol, the greatest difficulty IS to
Dull down again and escape the co1se-
uuences OF our own folly. GOOD may
come out of violence done by masses
when they rise hall starved against op-
preston, but there is no good In assassl-
nation. There is a difference between
murder and war.
These thoughts, however, are not ger
name to what I sat down to write. l
only seek to record some facts connected
with the awful murder OF the great and
good President.
When the news Of President Lincoln's
assassination startled the people l was at
nv home, on the Mac-o-chee, Ohio.
While walking along the pike near to-
ward the village, some two miles DIS
tant, going for my daily mail, [ met a
man on horseback, whose sad face str0ck
ME. American farmers have the saGdest
faces of all humanity, but this wore a
gloom of unusual depth. Stopping
when near me, he asked If I had heard
the news, and getting a response II the
negative, he continued:
s.They DO say at Liberty that Lincoln
Is dead
s.Dead?" 7 repeated.
eyes; shot dead by z play-actor, or
circus chap, or some sort OF 1eAo" OF
that kind
I hurried on. I was struck by the
silence of the town. Life IN the four
wears Of bloody disasters on our part,
which were quite as bloody In our year
of victory as they were in our defeats,
had been terribly cheapened in public
estimstion. The reports OF thousands
LETT dead upon the field, or dying IN
hospitals, were received with NOISY com
ment, it is true, but yet with certain
indifference. Here, however, was a
death that commanded grave attention,
and seemed to change the day itself from
one Of noisy life to a Sabbath-llke still
ness. The shops were open but desert
ed. and around the corners the Leople
were collected gazing at each other ID
silence. Towards noon the country peo-
pIe began to gather in. They came
direct. from home IN their ordinary
work Clothes, and as returned soldiers,
stimulated 1y liquor, grew noisy and the
threatening feeling spread, and during
the day and night, expected to hear CT
certain obnoxious Democrats, known IS
Copperheads, being moDbed and NJ
treated. But we escaped all violence,
and in twenty-four hours the excitement
of that sort subsidized.
Had political organizations been more
evenly divided at that time the conse-
uuences would have been deplorable.
But the Republican party meant then
the American people at the North, ano
popular fury was expended n denuncla
ton of JET Davis and the rebels, SIS they
were csled. 1t was generally believed
that the assassins We're agents OF The
Confederates, who, failing n the field
had resorted to murder to avenge then
lost cause.
A wear afterwards I visited niece
then residing in Maryland, on the route
taken by Booth IN his fight from Tie
capital. The terror excited by the wratL